The Holy Ghost Speaks Softly and Quietly

Hola Familia,

We had a wonderful week and I am so happy to be starting another!  We are having a surprising amount of success and I am just loving it!  We had many new investigators and four complete families came to church with us this Sunday.  As I sat in sacrament meeting I could not help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for the families the Lord has given us to teach and that they are accepting what we are teaching them and coming to church.  We hope to baptize three of the families in this next coming week.  I am going to do EVERYTHING I possibly can to make this happen.

It was so fun to read about the trip to Disney World and I had fun remembering when we went way back when.  I couldn't help but laugh at my own memories of the Tower of Terror and how full of terror I remember feeling.  I am so happy to hear that it was a great break and that you all had a great time.  This makes me happy because I am having the time of my life and I don't want to steal all the amazing experiences in life! :)  If you can, please send me a couple pictures of what you did while there!

This last week I have had so many experiences that have proved to me one thing that I hope I always remember.  The Holy Ghost speaks softly and quietly; just go to work and make decisions which feel right.  The first experience I had was during nightly planning I felt that we needed to put a certain investigator as a back-up plan.  The next day we ended up needing the back-up plan and had a wonderful lesson with a family that we hope comes to church this next week.  As we left I felt that we should stop by a reference that is never home when we stop by.  We walked down a street that was different than normal to her house when someone yelled "Elders!".  We were stopped by a man who knew the church in Arizona and wanted us to come to his house to meet his family and to share our message with his family.  My companion and I were in a slight state of shock and my companion told me, "He just fell from heaven!"  They are one of the families that came to church and we are going to baptize them this coming week.  We then got to the reference and she was home!  After scheduling an appointment with her, I felt we should stop by a member who lived one street over and who after talking for a bit gave us three references.

Another experience was the other night, Elder Diaz and I were out with the Ward Mission Leader when the last two appointments fell through.  Thinking of the most productive thing we could do with this time I thought of all the new investigators we had received.  However, Maria Teresa, Jaqueline, and Alan popped into my mind and I didn't know why because they were doing fine and we needed to focus on the people we just started to teach.  After talking to my companion we decided we should stop by.  When we arrived it was clear that the hand of the Lord was behind us coming.  Jaqueline was in a horrible state of guilt and shame due to having broken the Word of Wisdom with another member at party this weekend.  She felt terrible and just cried and cried.  We helped her realize that the Lord doesn't want her to feel this way and that if she repents all the pain and guilt will go away.  She was so grateful for this advice and called her friend to give him the same advice.  Before going to call her friend she related to us that after church she felt so horrible and tried to think of someone she could talk to.  Her mom wasn't home and her friend was basically in the same state.  She was on her way to talk to a non-member friend when she felt that she should go back home.  On the way back home she almost gave up to deal with everything herself, and then I called her to see if they were home.  She hurried home to find us waiting to help her.

These experiences were started with just thoughts that popped into my head and turned out to be spectacular experiences.  First, we were just in the right place at the right time.  The second, an opportunity to give strength to someone that had almost given up on the church and all that she knew to be true.  I am so humbled by these opportunities to have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord and am grateful that I listened.  I am going to pay more attention from now on so that I don't miss even one whisper or Spirit-driven thought.

I really am having the time of my life and am learning things that I will treasure for the rest of my life.  I love all of you tons and tons!  Thank you Grandma Janis for all of the letters from the cousins and Kristina for the Birthday card.  I want to start thanking the people that write me in this letter home to my family so that you know it made it to me and that I am so grateful for them!  Oh, and Mom don't worry, I haven't received the package but look forward to the day it arrives!!

Con mucho cariño,

Elder Janis